When Bears president Ted Phillips was asked about his patience after the Bears finished 8-8 last season, it didn’t sound like he had that much of it — for a Bears executive, anyway. It almost sounded like he was drawing a line in the sand.
“I think we should be able to turn it around next year,” Phillips said two days after the regular season concluded. “We were 12-4 just a year ago. We had the coach of the year, the executive of the year. They haven’t lost their abilities, and we haven’t lost the talent level. We’ve just got to be able to maximize it better this coming season.”
Asked if that meant he expected contention, Phillips didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely,” he said.
The Bears, almost predictably, provided mixed results in 2020 that leave all possibilities open a year later. The Bears were 8-8 again, which doesn’t fit the definition of turning it around. But they made the playoffs, which is technically, if not actually, contention.
The quarterback situation should be the tie-breaker and the Bears did not solve that in 2020. Despite an offensive resurgence against bottom-10 defenses in December that fooled a few but not many, Mitch Trubisky finished the season as the same quarterback he was at the beginning. Nick Foles drew a bad hand but didn’t make the most of it.
If you’re scoring at home, that’s strike three for Pace — Mike Glennon, Trubisky and Foles. But with the Bears you never know. It’s like Angel Hernandez is forever behind the plate at Halas Hall.
So now the Bears are in another difficult spot, with non-football people making football decisions and a coach and GM struggling to do what they should do best — develop an offense and find a quarterback, respectively.
At 8-8 with the 26th-ranked offense in the NFL and the 20th pick in the 2021 draft and a negative salary-cap ledger, the Bears are stuck in the middle. And Bears fans — addicted to football and their beloved Bears — are just stuck.
2. As it turned out, the Bears’ offensive identity is what we thought it was — good against bad defenses and bad against good defenses.
In a four-game stretch against four teams that finished the season ranked in the bottom 10 in total defense — the Lions (32nd), Texans (30th), Vikings (27th) and Jaguars (31st), the Bears averaged 396.8 yards (10th in the NFL in that span), 6.1 yards per play (10th), 159.0 rushing yards (fourth) and 34.5 points per game (third).
But in the final two games against the Packers (ninth in total defense) and Saints (fourth), the Bears averaged 297.5 yards, 4.8 yards per play, 78.0 rushing yards and 12.5 points per game. And that includes the meaningless 99-yard touchdown drive in the final two minutes of the 21-9 loss to the Saints in the wild-card game.
3. Even with this season’s postseason berth, the Bears still have made the playoffs just seven times in 28 years since the firing of Mike Ditka after the 1992 season.
Only three teams that have been in the NFL throughout that span have fewer playoff appearances — Washington (six), the Raiders (five) and the Cardinals (five).
4. The notion that Trubisky was better than Foles this season is a myth. Foles not only played against the four best defenses the Bears faced — the Colts, Buccaneers, Rams and Saints — but also played when the offensive line was a mess.
They played two games against the same opponent. Trubisky (97.7 rating) was better than Foles (51.1) against the Vikings, but he also had the advantage of David Montgomery and a running game that produced 199 yards. Montgomery did not play against the Vikings when Foles started and the Bears rushed for 41 yards.
Without a running game against the Saints, Trubisky was helpless (10-of-19, 107 yards, 69.4 rating until a garbage-time touchdown drive). Foles was better (92.7) and that was despite being sacked five times behind an offensive line with three back-ups — Sam Mustipher making his first NFL start, Rashaad Coward at left guard and Jason Spriggs replacing right tackle Bobby Massie after four snaps.
5. Nagy still has the support of his players, but it’s not showing on the field as much as it used to. Anthony Miller’s ejection for punching C.J. Gardner-Johnson was an egregious lack of discipline after Javon Wims’ similar lapse against Gardner-Johnson at Soldier Field. But the Bears also dropped to 21st in fewest penalties (97) in 2020 after ranking eighth (103) in 2019 and fifth (100) in 2018.
The Bears had nine penalties for 50 yards against the Saints on Sunday — tied with Seattle for the most last weekend.
6. Miller has had focus and attention-to-detail issues throughout his three-year career with the Bears — one reason why Mooney leap-frogged him so quickly this season. But the Bears need offensive weapons too much to let Miller go after inexplicably losing his mind against the Saints. The Bears might need to sign Allen Robinson just to keep Miller in line and on point.
7. Mooney’s 61 receptions for 631 yards and four touchdowns as a fifth-round draft pick on a 26th-ranked offense with quarterbacks ranking 20th (Trubisky) and 29th (Foles) in the NFL in passer rating was the biggest surprise this season.
Mooney’s 98 targets and 61 receptions are the most for a rookie drafted in the fifth round or later since the Saints’ Marques Colston (115) as a seventh-round pick in 2006. Mooney’s 631 yards are the ninth most for a receiver drafted in the fifth-round or later since 2000.
8. Pace has been criticized all season for not signing Robinson to a contract extension, but in fairness, we don’t get the other side of the story — like what Robinson is asking for. The close-to-the-vest Bears generally don’t leak information to tell their side of the story.
Most of the extensions Pace has done have been relatively team friendly. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Robinson didn’t want to play ball. Still, as much as Pace has overpaid to fill holes in the past — Glennon, Trey Burton and Graham in particular — splurging on an asset as valuable as Robinson wouldn’t be out of line. But with cap space tight, the Bears probably can’t sign Robinson without losing another valuable asset.
9a. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Rams outside linebacker Leonard Floyd had two more sacks of Russell Wilson in a 20-10 victory over the Seahawks on Saturday. Floyd, who had a career-high 10.5 sacks in the regular season, has sacked Wilson seven times this season. He sacked Aaron Rodgers seven times in seven games with the Bears.
9b. Special Mention: Browns kicker Cody Parkey outscored the Bears 12-9 Sunday. Parkey kicked field goals of 24 and 37 yards and made 6-of-6 PATs in the Browns’ 48-37 upset of the Steelers at Heinz Field.
10. Bear-ometer review (from Week 1): 9-7 — at Lions (W); vs. Giants (W); at Falcons (L); vs. Colts (W); vs. Buccaneers (W); at Panthers (W); at Rams (L); vs. Saints (L); at Titans (L); vs. Vikings (W); at Packers (L); vs. Lions (W); vs. Texans (L); at Vikings (L); at Jaguars (W); vs. Packers (W).
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January 13, 2021 at 05:32AM
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1st-and-10: Bears, George McCaskey stuck in the middle - Chicago Sun-Times
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